Missing Fox Executive Gavin Smith’s Car Found; Authorities Suspect Homicide

Sheriff's Department considers homicide a possibility in Gavin Smith's death after his car was found at a Simi Valley storage facility in Feburary

The car of Fox executive Gavin Smith, who has been missing since he disappeared last year, leading the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to consider the case a homicide.

A Sheriff's department spokeswoman told TheWrap that the department is now considering the case a homicide, after they found Smith's Mercedes in a Simi Valley, Calif., storage facility on Feb. 21.

Also read: Missing Fox Executive Gavin Smith's Family Enlists Public's Help in Search

According to the Los Angeles Times, the facility had been linked to John Creech, who has a previous drug conviction and and whose wife reportedly has ties to Smith.

The spokeswoman could not say how the discovery of the car led the department to consider the case a homicide.

Also read: Missing Fox Executive Gavin Smith: Search for This Weekend Called Off

In January, the Sheriff's Department told reporters that it was looking at a gray SUV belonging to Creech that was found outside a marijuana grow house in Granada Hills, Calif., as a possible clue in Smith's disappearance. The vehicle's license plate had been flagged by law enforcement due to a possible connection to Smith's disappearance, according to KFI-AM.

E!, citing anonymous sources, has reported that Creech's wife, Chandrika, had an affair with Smith after meeting him in therapy.

At a press conference, Lt. David Dolson did not confirm the affair, but said that Smith and Creech's wife had "a relationship."

"We don't want to get into his personal life, but there was a relationship with [Creech's] wife; they met in rehab," Dolson said.

In January, Creech's attorney at the time told TheWrap that his client had not been in the car in 18 months, and that a friend had been watching it for him. 

Creech was in custody on an unrelated charge at the time, and according to the Times he still is.

Smith, a branch manager for theaters in Dallas and Oklahoma City who worked from Fox's Calabasas, Calif., office, was last seen in May 2012 at his residence in Oak Park, Calif. The distribution executive, an 18-year veteran of Fox, was 57 at the time of his disappearance.

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